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Thursday, 17 August 2017

Nigerian award winning gospel star, KSB who has been in the news, riding on the waves of her new book 'Stop! Turn it around' has on Wednesday August 16, 2017 opened her O'GOODNESS FOOD COURT in Ikeja, Lagos State.

Giving a short exaltation, Pastor Nike Onuorah encouraged the singer to commit her works unto God, she further rejoiced with the music star on the establishment of her long wished desire, stating that this was a pointer to God's faithfulness.

Chief Moji Dokpesi declaring the food cafe open

This was followed by the official opening, accompanied with series of prayers which was done by sister to the singer, Chief Mrs Dokpesi.

Moji Dokpesi, Kenny Ogungbe, KSB and her 2 children

Speaking on what inspired the name, the singer who was visibly excited said 'I know that people crave for good food and when you taste a good food, you are likely to exclaim O' GOODNESS!!

On the delicacies available at the food cafe, she said 'The best jollof ever is here, we serve the best ofada rice and sauce, We serve the best Don jazzy, if you want to know what Don Jazzy is, then you should visit O'GOODNESS!, we also have special meals for people who are diabetic, we have swallow. But let me tell you a secret, the best bet here is Jenifa, i can guarantee you that you'd exclaim O'GOODNESS!! after having this meal'.

Prince Stanley Williams with KSB

Guest were then treated to some sumptuous O'GOODNESS meals.

Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) congratulates KSB and wishes her well in her latest endeavour.

Tuesday, 15 August 2017

It is no longer news that The COSON Week which takes place every two years will hold from October 29 to November 4, 2017 and during the week, there will be 7 captivating events at 7 special venues over 7 days all over the city of Lagos which is being promoted as the entertainment capital of the continent and a major tourism hub. That is why the catch phrase of the 2017 COSON Week is “777!”

As the COSON Week explodes, there will be music all over the city: in the church, in the mosque, on the streets and in the most enchanting venues available to Lagos and much of these events will be broadcast live on several channels and will reverberate across the nation and across the world.

Speaking at the end of the recent Banking Industry Stakeholders Forum on Copyright held at the magnificent new COSON House in Ikeja, the chairman of the wave making Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, announced the core objectives of COSON Week 2017. Chief Okoroji who was recently presented with ‘the Pillar of Entertainment in Nigeria’ award, said that apart from the massive entertainment that will be unleashed by hundreds of Nigerian musicians, young and old, to reduce the political and economic stress being felt by millions across the country, the COSON Week 2017 will be targeted at achieving specific objectives. The key objectives of the COSON Week 2017 according to the celebrated former president of PMAN are to:

a)build significant public awareness and support for the new national fight against piracy of music, movies, literature, broadcast content, software, etc, which is undermining investments in the Nigerian creative industry;

b) mount a forceful campaign against hate speech in Nigeria which is threatening ethnic harmony and peace in the country;

c) vigorously promote the Nigerian Music Industry to contribute more meaningfully to the nation’s GDP;

d)sell the Nigerian nation to the world as an important tourist destination;

e) support the COSON Music Foundation set up to assist old or indigent artistes or musicians in distress

According to Okoroji, “we are getting significant support from practically every serious media organization in the country: NTA, FRCN, Hip TV, Soundcity, ONTV, Galaxy TV, Brila FM, BISCON TV, Beat FM, Classic FM, Cool FM, Wazobia FM, STV, Rhythm, City People, Encomium, Yes Magazine and many-many others across Nigeria. With our integrated social media operation, we are constructing an unprecedented multi-million-naira media backbone to ensure that the reverberations of the COSON Week 2017 are felt everywhere across the nation and the world”

Okoroji appealed to the banks and all socially responsible organizations and brands in Nigeria to fully support COSON Week 2017. According to the author of ‘Copyright & the New Millionaires’, “we all have a big stake in the stability, survival and progress of the Nigerian nation and cannot wait until the falcon can no longer hear the falconer. We just need to look at the misery that comes with the failure of nations to understand that no investments we make towards the stability of Nigeria is too much. I have had very deep and frank discussions with the Honorable Minister of Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on our ‘Music for National Stability’ initiative. He was indeed the one who called me to pledge support for what we are doing. I believe that he gets it. Let me make it clear that I have never belonged to any political party and that we seek the support of all Nigerians irrespective of their political inclinations. We want a peaceful and stable nation in which our children can dream and grow”

Monday, 8 May 2017

THE BAD LOSERS AT MCSN WANT A REPLAY OF A MATCH THEY LOST 7 YEARS AGO!

The finals were played on May 20, 2010. The trophy was won. The spectators have long gone home. The referee has since retired from the game. Suddenly, the very bad losers at MCSN want a match that was won and lost 7 years ago to be replayed!

In their always shifting arguments, they now want 2 trophies so they can have one!

In 2009, three organizations applied to be approved as collective management organizations for the music industry. They were COSON, MCSN and WASPAN. Each of the organizations very well knew that with the provisions of the law, only one of them would be approved. There would be only one trophy.

When the result was announced on May 20, 2010, expectedly, COSON was approved. COSON was approved because it had the full support of the Nigerian Music Industry Coalition backed by 10 of the biggest national associations in the industry including PMAN, NARI, MORAN, PMRS, AMB.PRO, MUPMAN, etc. COSON also had by far the largest spread of membership and repertoire of music in Nigeria. Mr Adebambo Adewopo who was Director-General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission when COSON was approved by the NCC was a well-known MCSN lawyer. The fact that Adewopo authorized the approval of COSON is instructive.

Upon the approval of COSON, WASPAN, one of the applicants for approval readily agreed to work with COSON. Despite repeated appeal to MCSN by COSON for all to work together in the interest of the Nigerian music industry, MCSN refused and decided to go to court to contest their loss.

Despite their non-approval, MCSN also continued to collect royalties in defiance of the law. At a point, the MCSN argument changed and became: ’we do not require an approval to collect royalties. We are not a CMO but “owners, assignee and exclusive licensees”! This was the same organization that applied for a CMO license and lost. Of course, MCSN lost this incredibly convoluted argument at the Court of Appeal. They went to the Supreme Court and their case was struck out.

MCSN even went to court to challenge the registration of COSON by the Corporate Affairs Commission. They lost.

MCSN went ahead to challenge the constitutionality of the provisions of Section 39 of the Copyright Act which prescribes only one approved CMO for each class of works. Their argument? The provisions of Section 39 abridged their rights to freedom of association.

In Suit No. FHC/L/CS/478/08, MCSN sought a declaration that Section 39 of the Copyright Act is unconstitutional, null and void. Justice I.M. Sani of the Federal High Court disagreed with them. They lost. They appealed Justice Sani’s decision. In Appeal No: CA/L/575/09, the Court of Appeal in another unanimous judgment vehemently disagreed with MCSN ruling that the provisions of the Copyright Act are constitutional. MCSN once again lost.

MCSN ignored the several rulings of the courts and continued to collect copyright royalties without approval. It was then that officers of the Nigerian Copyright Commission went to their office in Lagos and arrested their CEO, Mr. Mayo Ayilaran and six of his staff.

Most people will remember the scatting media campaign mounted by MCSN against the NCC. They said that the arrest of their officers was an infringement of their fundamental human rights. The matter once again went up to the Court of Appeal and the court in CAL/L/350/2013 (NCC v MCSN, Mayo Ayilaran & 6 others) unanimously ruled that the arrest was very much in order. Once again, MCSN lost. Finally, the shit had hit the fan.

To escape criminal trial in the 7 cases brought against them before different judges of the Federal High Court, Ayilaran and MCSN hatched a new plan to penetrate the Federal Ministry of Justice where they used an aid to the HAGF to concoct the directive that MCSN should be approved with zero adherence to the rule of law and due process and that the 7 criminal cases against MCSN and its officers should be quashed! They want an ‘approval’ in 2017 to wipe away offences committed as far back as 2012 when clearly MCSN had no approval. Wow!

Their new media campaign about ‘monopoly’ is diversionary. There is no question that if MCSN had been the only CMO approved in 2010, Ayilaran and MCSN would have widely celebrated the approval and will not be talking about ‘monopoly’. The Nigerian music industry has tasted multiple CMOs before. It did not work. The industry came together to back one CMO which was approved seven years ago and which has been professional, transparent, accountable and one of the most admired in the African continent. Suddenly, Mayo Ayilaran and his MCSN gang want a replay of a match that was won and lost seven years ago.

In fourteen days, specifically on May 20, the cream of Nigeria will come together to commission the ultra-modern COSON House in the heart of Ikeja. COSON House will be a symbol that ours is not a jinxed profession. Thousands of musicians across the country are happy that we will no longer be paying rent. Finally, Nigerian musicians have a beautiful place we can call our own. The magnificent building is called ‘COSON House’ and not ‘Tony Okoroji House’

Nearly 25 years ago, I did everything possible to have the PMAN Plaza built for musicians in Abuja. We acquired a piece of choice land, put together fantastic architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical and other designs. We syndicated the financing for the project and even began the foundation. I remember clearly those who stormed PMAN Headquarters in Ikeja one afternoon to disrupt a meeting of the financing group. That was the day I decided to walk away from PMAN. Where is the PMAN Plaza today? I even hear that in shady circumstances, they have sold the land which I acquired for Nigerian musicians and that they pocketed the money.

Some of the same people who wrecked the PMAN Plaza are back. Driven by bad belle and fuelled by their MCSN mentality, they cannot see anything good in COSON House. That is their prerogative. I was at the COSON House site yesterday as I have been every day for months. There is still an incredible amount of work going on but COSON House is standing! Glory be to the Almighty.

Music star and staunch COSON member, Kenny Saint Best, who is now an ordained Pastor, is set for her first book launch today.

The much anticipated book titled 'STOP! TURN IT AROUND' will be launched today, Monday May 8, 2017 at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos by 5 pm and is expected to pull the creme da la creme of the society.

Chief
Tony Okoroji, Chairman Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) who is one of
Africa’s best known experts on Intellectual Property and an untiring campaigner
for the respect of the rights of creative people across the continent, has been
appointed Patron of the Intellectual Property Law Club of Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile Ife.

In a letter
just received by Chief Okoroji, the author of the book, ‘Copyright & the
New Millionaires’, the President of the club, Miss Oluwatomisin Winner Apata
wrote, “Words aren’t enough to express our deepest gratitude for your work of
inestimable value in the field of Intellectual Property. You’ve not only fought
through thick and thin to make Intellectual Property what it is today in
Nigeria but you’ve also set the pace for the coming generation. You transformed
Intellectual Property and brought it out from its world devoid of form or
recognition and made it a force to be reckoned with, a topic that can if given
a chance transform the Nigerian Economy.

“As
part of our appreciation sir, the Intellectual Property Law Club O.A.U. has
decided to appoint you as our Patron subject to your approval sir. We’re a club
with a vision of educating the society on the subject of Intellectual Property
and as a result resolve to be part of such struggle for the recognition of
Intellectual Property Rights, its protection and enforcement. We look forward
to seeing Nigeria on its feet again with a strong economy that allows for
creativity, recognition of such creative works and proper compensation. We
pledge our allegiance to COSON to help in every and any way we can to promote
its cause as it relates to our artists. We’d like to join the COSON family in
celebrating the unveiling of the New COSON House.”

Chief
Tony Okoroji, the celebrated former president of PMAN,
has accepted the appointment.

Friday, 5 May 2017

1.Just
like it was done by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005, there should be an
immediate withdrawal of any letter or document suggesting or purporting that
the criminal organization run by Mayo Ayilaran and called Musical Copyright
Society Nigeria Ltd (MCSN) has been authorized or approved to collect royalties
on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians and other music industry stakeholders or
to operate in Nigeria as a collective management organization.

2. No
further attempt should be allowed to be made by any official of the Federal
Government to scuttle or torpedo the ongoing criminal trial of Mayo Ayilaran
and MCSN Ltd in the 7 different cases before several judges of the Federal High
Court, Lagos.

3. Mr
Ayilaran who is presently on bail and MCSN Ltd should be diligently prosecuted
and their prosecution should be transparent and open as deserving of every
Nigerian citizen and no pressure whatsoever should be brought on any of the
judges before whom they are being prosecuted so that at the end of the day, it
will be established whether they are indeed guilty or not of the crimes of
which they have been accused.

4. Mr.
Saliu Othman Isah and Mr. Sylvester Imhanobe, implicated in the misuse of their
closeness to the Attorney-General of the Federation in the clandestine effort
to wreck the criminal trial of Mayo Ayilaran and MCSN Ltd, and who may have
inflicted a big stain on President Buhari’s war against corruption should be
suspended immediately from office and a proper investigation be carried out on
their activities.

5. An
urgent and thorough audit should be carried out on the staff of the Federal
Ministry of Justice to fish out the moles within the system and to ensure that
there are no other persons in the employ of the ministry who are deploying the
enormous powers of the AGF in the pursuit of objectives that are against
national interest.

6. The AGF should keep the promise
he made to a COSON delegation in November 2016 to strengthen the copyright
system in the country so that the system can effectively protect and promote
creative enterprise in the nation and ensure that the Nigerian economy benefits
from the creative ingenuity of Nigerian citizens and those interested in
investing in our creative industries.